Michael Yon at the scene of a suicide bombing in Mosul, with a tale of true martyrdom, one who gave his life to blunt the force of a murderer’s attack:

As the murderer dressed in women’s clothes walked purposefully toward his target, there was a village man ahead. But under the guise of a simple villager was a true Martyr, and he, too, had his target in sight. The Martyr had seen through the disguise, but he had no gun. No bomb. No rocket. No stone. No time.

The Martyr walked up to the murderer and lunged into a bear hug, on the spot where we were now standing.

The blast ripped the Martyr to pieces which fell along with pieces of the enemy. Ball-bearings shot through the alley and wounded two children, but the people in the mosque were saved. The man lay in pieces on the ground, his own children having seen how his last embrace saved the people of the village.

Do you think you could do it? Have the presence of mind and the willingness to sacrifice yourself like that?Via Jules Crittenden

I honestly don't know. What about you dear reader? Could you embrace death to save the lives of others?

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comments:

Tough to know, Terrye. Even in ordinary life with smaller stakes, sometimes I do the right thing, sometimes not. Much seems to depend on my state of mind and amount of distraction at the moment the situation arises.

Technically he's a hero, (CMH level), not a martyr. His children were present and parents sacrificing their lives for their children might be more common than soldiers doing the same for their compatriots.

In either event, those choosing to make the sacrifice are heros of only a slightly higher level than those who volunteer for duty in a service which requires that a certain number of the group will give their lives in order to successfully fulfill their mission.